“8 Heads in a Duffel Bag’s roots are in screwball comedy…Joe Pesci is the best thing in the movie; he’s funny every moment he’s on the screen.”
– Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“A gem…gonzo…a testament to how entertaining it is to watch Pesci get royally pissed.”
– R. Kurt Osenlund, Slant Magazine

8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1977) is a dark comedy from writer-director Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society), starring the singular Joe Pesci as a gangster hired to deliver a bag crammed with severed heads to a crime boss who wants proof of their former owners’ demise. On a commercial flight, the head-stuffed bag gets switched with one belonging to a young man (Andy Comeau) on his way to visit his girlfriend (Kristy Swanson) and her parents (George Hamilton, Dyan Cannon); hijinks ensue.

I can barely recall seeing this film when it was first released. I remembered that it was funny but couldn’t recall the details. In the end that was a good thing as I had a solid belly laugh or two while watching it this time around. It also reminded me of what a hilarious comedic actor Joe Pesci was at the time and how I’m sure fans would love to see more of him now.

The movie tells the story of Tommy (Pesci), a mid-level mobster/bagman whose been given an assignment: take the heads of 8 recently wiped out mobsters from the east coast to San Diego and top dog Big Sepp as proof they’ve been killed. Tommy is he sort of guy who has few manners if any and is used to getting his way. His time on the airplane both in getting the heads on and the problems he encounters there off the first few laughs.

On the plane he sits next to Charlie (Andy Comeau), a pre-med student on his way to spend the weekend with his girlfriend Laurie (Kristy Swanson) and her parents Dick and Annette (George Hamilton and Dyan Cannon) in Mexico. Tommy treats Charlie with the same disdain he does everyone. Eventually circumstances result in his carryon bag being pushed back to luggage which is what starts his problems.

At the airport in San Diego Tommy grabs the wrong bag. It’s identical to the one Charlie put in luggage earlier in the film. Finding the book Charlie was writing in the other bag Tommy must now figure out where to find him. A call to his dorm room results in a less than helpful roommate (David Spade) hanging up on him causing Tommy to catch a flight to the college to extract information.

In the meantime Charlie has arrived in Mexico to be greeted by Laurie and her parents. There he gets the news from Laurie that she intends to break up with him. As he tells her this is her bowing to the will of her parents who are not fond of Charlie since he apparently hasn’t determined his plans for the future.

Once in his room Charlie discovers the heads in the bag he’s brought with him and freaks out. This begins the comedic moments where different people discover the heads, a dog tries to abscond with a head and various things happen to cause heads to go missing. As this plays out, Tommy arrives to interrogate Charlie’s two roommates for some humorous moments as well.

Eventually the two characters and their accompanying groups merge once more as well as the original killers now wondering why Tommy has yet to deliver the heads. It all ends in hilarity in some of the darkest comedy ever put on screen.

The worst part of the film: Comeau. My guess is that this was one of the earliest things he’d done and it shows. He’s not terrible per se but his is the weakest performance in the film. The character comes off like an early John Cusak sort but he doesn’t quite have the acting chops yet to pull it off.

The best part of the film: a dream sequence where Pesci has lined up all 8 heads on a desk in his motel room and they come alive and start singing “Mr. Sandman”. It’s one of those moments you find yourself going back to again and again to watch, laughing each and every time.

Twilight Time is releasing this film and has done an excellent job on the transfer, but then what else would we expect of them? Extras as is often the case are limited with just the original theatrical trailer and an isolated score track. Once again the pressing of this film is limited to just 3,000 copies so if it’s one that you remember and enjoyed in the past make sure you pick up a copy before they’re gone. And if you’re a friend of someone who picks it up, have them bring it over, pop some corn, open the beverage of your choice and be prepared to laugh and have fun.